It was here that Belloc first began to gain a reputation for the steadfastness and radicality of his views. Although a speaker "famed both for brilliance in debate and high energy," President of the Oxford Union, and an honors graduate, Belloc failed to receive a Fellowship position upon gaining his degree. The snub was likely due to the stubbornness and other traits which made him so popular (particularly his staunch Catholicism); he resented this scorning for the rest of his life.

Some of his more famous works were produced around this time, including 1911's The Party System, which denounced the titular concept (especially in contemporary politics). He had drifted further to the right over the preceding years, and demonstrated this fully with 1912's The Servile State, a scathing critique of progressive welfare programs on the whole. This was likely his most famous work during the era. (Needless to say, his Fabian ties had been thoroughly sundered by this point.)

By now, the Great War was breaking out, and Belloc placed himself firmly on the hawkish side of debate. He wrote for England's War Propaganda Bureau and was the military correspondent for Land and Water, an overnight magazine success. However, tragedy struck during this time; his oldest son, Louis, died while on a Royal Flying Corps mission in August 1918. Though this only compounded the grief felt after the death of his wife Elodie in 1910, he recovered and regained control of a successful writing career after the war's end. World War II, though, proved to be the death knell for Belloc. Another son, Peter, died in combat, and Belloc suffered a debilitating stroke in 1942.

Views and Works

Hilaire Belloc lived a rich and detailed life, a life that manifested itself clearly in his myriad writings. It is said that after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Belloc and his family returned to their French house, only to find it utterly pillaged and ransacked by the invading troops. This incident was the foundation for the utter hatred of all things German that Belloc cultivated during his lifespan. When combined with the militarism gained from his years in the French Army and his prevalent religious faith, it produced successes such as his Land and Watereditorials, which charged World War I with the religious overtones of faithful England battling the "pagan" German empire.

Yet these are not the only fields Belloc restricted himself to. In addition to the aforementioned works and genres, Belloc was a novelist of many works (note 1909's A Change in the Cabinet and 1910's Pongo and the Bull). His poetry was well-acclaimed, his lines on the sea gaining recognition as much as his Cautionary Verses of 1940, stanzas which became rote for the children of a generation. As a religious writer, he was equally versed: his pro-Catholic Europe and Faith (1920) is likely his most renowned work to this day (excepting his Oliver Cromwell biography, and perhaps The Servile State).

With steadfast (if often controversial) views, a strong and original voice to express them, and a fascinating life on which to draw experience from in discussing them, Hilaire Belloc is possibly one of the more interesting and underrecognized English writers of the early 20th century.

Sources:

http://www.sndc.demon.co.uk/belloc.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilaire_Belloc
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRbelloc.htm
This writeup is 95% node what you don't know, so any Belloc scholars or experts are more than welcome to point out ambiguities or underemphasized sections of Belloc's life in this node. Thanks also to the editor/god who tossed out the three-liner above.